


The Black Cat Job

by meils121



Category: Leverage
Genre: Bad Luck, Curses, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 15:06:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17045945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meils121/pseuds/meils121
Summary: When a black cat crosses Hardison's path, he thinks he might be cursed.  Then things start going all wrong in their latest job, and he knows he's been cursed.





	The Black Cat Job

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Melime GreenLeaf (Melime)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/gifts).



          It starts - as these sorts of things do - when a black cat crosses the sidewalk in front of Hardison.  

          “Curses aren’t real.”  Eliot says when Hardison mentions it when he arrives at the brew pub.  “And dumb superstitions like that are even less real.”

          Hardison’s not exactly sure how to make sense of that statement, but he still has a feeling of unease as they gather in the back room to be briefed on their latest job.

          It’s a simple enough job - evil corporation, corrupt CEO, health insurance of a thousand employees in jeopardy.  Nate’s got a plan that might be a little more complicated than it needs to be, but it’ll work just fine and has the added bonus exposing some not-so-nice trade secrets that the public really should know about.  

          Montgomery, Idaho is a small town that happened to attract Techfield, a company that makes tablets and that sort of thing.  Hardison knows from experience that Techfield products are mostly rubbish, but he keeps those thoughts to himself given that a good portion of Montgomery is employed by Techfield in one way or another.  

          Nate’s plan starts with a simple salting, though with a twist.  Hardison likes the names of cons, likes learning about their history.  This one is simple enough: make the mark think something valuable lays beneath the surface by planting goods.  Con artists used to salt long-emptied mines with gold dust to convince others that there were still treasures to be found.  Nate - well, Nate thinks big.  He salts a company.  

          “It’s just a small company.”  Nate says when Sophie complains.  “Come on, Sophie, you’ve sold much harder things than this.”

          Sophie rolls her eyes.  “I have no worries about my abilities.”  She says.  “I just think it’s more than what’s necessary.”

          The first thing to go wrong happens when Sophie has her first meeting with the CEO of Techfield.  She’s going in as the owner of a small tech company that’s on the verge of a breakthrough discovery.  All it will take is a few words, a couple of well-placed compliments, and things will be all set up for the next step of the plan.

          Or, that’s what would have happened if the mark hadn’t instantly recognized Sophie.

          “Angela?  What are you doing here?”  Travis Hadley asks the second Sophie walks into the office.  

          “Angela?”  Eliot asks.  “I thought she was going in as Rebecca.”

          “She’s conned him before.”  Parker says with sudden urgency.  “Nate, she’s conned him before.”  

          “I know.”  Nate is momentarily silent before speaking over comms.  “Sophie, Plan F.”

          “Won’t work.”  Sophie hisses under her breath.  Then, “Travis!  It’s been ages!”

          “Why does she have an Australian accent?”  Eliot asks.  “That’s -”

          “Hardison, we need to change the details.  Make our company Australian, and change the secretary’s calendar to say Angela, and -”

          “I got it.”  Hardison says.  As he types, he says to Eliot, “It’s the curse.  We’ve never had a mark recognize Sophie before.”

          “Coincidence.”  Eliot says with a frown.  “Curses aren’t real.”

          It takes some quick hacking and a masterful display of grifting skills, but they manage to salvedge the encounter - and the con.  Travis is a bit confused, but his greed ends up overriding any common sense he might have, and soon enough Sophie has convinced him that she’s ready to sell a company for much less than it’s worth.  

          When Hardison goes outside the next morning, he finds Lucille has been ransacked.  

          “Now do you believe me?  There’s a damn curse.”  Hardison says.  “My poor baby.”

          Parker pokes Lucille’s side.  “Did they key her?”  She asks.  

          Eliot frowns.  “No curse.”  He says.  “Just a bunch of kids, probably.”  

          Hardison emerges from inside Lucille.  “One of my laptops is missing.”  He says.  “We could be in trouble.”  

          For the first time, Eliot looks mildly concerned.  “It’s not a curse.”  He says.  “Someone’s just figured out some of what we’re up to.”

          A black cat runs out from underneath the van.  Parker coos and drops to the ground.  “Hi, kitty!”  She says.  “Aww, you’re adorable!”

          “Hell no.  Nope, nope, nope.  That damn cat cursed me.”  Hardison says.

          “There’s no curse.”  Eliot says.

          “I’m keeping it.”  Parker declares.

          “You can’t keep the cat.”  That, at least, Hardison and Eliot are united on.

          Parker pouts, but the cat wiggles out of her arms before she can argue more.  It dashes off into a nearby alley.  

          “Definitely cursed.”  Hardison says as they wait for the tow truck to arrive.

          The next step of the con is for Parker to break into the Techfield offices.  It’s straightforward enough.  This size company doesn’t have the type of high-tech security that they are used to fighting, and it should be as easy as looping the security camera feed and crawling through a few air ducts.  

          Instead, Parker sets off a laser in the air duct above the break room.  

          “Why the hell are there lasers in here?”  She asks.  Hardison can barely hear her over the sound of the alarms in the background.  There’s a thud as she drops out of the air duct.  “I thought you looked at the plans.

          “I did.”  Hardison defends.  “There were no lasers.”

          Eliot rolls his eyes.  “Let me guess.  This is all part of the curse.”

          “Probably.”  Hardison agrees.  “Parker, there’s an exit two doors ahead to your left.”

          Parker gets out safely, but it’s too close a call for anyone to be happy.  

          “Lasers in the air ducts.”  She grumbles later that afternoon.  “That’s like Eliot finding five armed guards in front of a toy store.”

          Eliot shrugs.  “It’s happened.”  He says, and doesn’t elaborate.  Hardison’s never sure if he just says things like that for effect or if they’ve actually happened.  He wouldn’t be surprised either way, to be perfectly honest.

          It’s Nate’s turn next.  He’s going in as an software developer - a role Hardison argues over and over that he should play, but apparently he’s needed for other things.  So instead he’s feeding Nate what to say.  And that works perfectly well, until Nate’s comm dies.

          “This damn curse.”  Hardison says.  “Eliot, Nate might be in trouble.”

          “On it.  And there’s no curse.”  Eliot jumps out of Lucille’s front seat.  Then -  “Damn it!”

          “What?”  Hardison looks up from his laptop, where he can at least monitor how Nate’s doing.  “Eliot?”

          “Think I sprained my ankle.”  Eliot says.  He’s sprawled on the asphalt and his ankle is rapidly swelling up.  “Tripped over that damn black cat.”

          Hardison crosses his arms.  “Now do you believe me?”  He asks.  “There’s a curse.”

          “Okay, fine.  There _might_ be a curse.”  Eliot says.  “Now grab the first aid kit.”

          None of them are very happy by that evening.  Nate had managed to fib his way through the rest of the meeting, and things more or less worked out there.  Eliot’s got his ankle propped up on a pillow and wrapped in ice.  It’s a bad twist, but it’s not sprained or broken, thankfully.  

          Parker is pacing.  “How do you get rid of a curse?”  She asks.  

          “We leave this damn job.”  Hardison mutters.  “I’m not sticking around to find out what the next problem will be.”

          “No.”  Nate says.  “No, we made a promise.  We’re not walking away.”

          “So then what?”  Sophie says.  “I mean, a curse seems a little extreme, but we’ve definitely been unlucky throughout this job.”

          Nate looks up with that _look_ on his face, the one that means he’s figured out a plan that’s both perfect and terrifying.  “Let’s go steal a curse.”  He says.

          “Now that doesn’t even make sense.”  Hardison says.

          But whether it makes sense or not doesn’t matter in the end.  It doesn’t take much to convince the Techfield CEO that he’s been cursed.  Hardison shows up and yells a few words of voodoo-nonsense at the CEO.  Then he hacks into the Techfield security system and starts manipulating things so the CEO believes he’s actually been cursed.  It only takes a few computer viruses and a break-in for Travis to back down completely.

          “I’m offering full benefits to every employee.”  He announces at a meeting two days later.  “Health insurance, paid vacation days, extended family sick leave, all of it.”  

          Hardison leans back in his chair.  “There.”  He says.  “I knew the curse wasn’t real.”

          If the chair breaks just then - well, Hardison’s going to ignore Eliot’s snickers and the fact that Parker is holding a screwdriver in one hand.

 


End file.
